Full list of topics 
Spacer
Spacer
Spacer
Spacer

Ovarian CancerArrow
2-5 years since diagnosis
Interview OV45  

Interview OV45

Age at Interview: 62
Sex: Female
Age at Diagnosis: 60
Background: Company director; married; 3 adult children.
Brief outline:Ovarian cancer diagnosed in 2001 following indigestion, abdominal pain and bloating. Treated by surgical removal of ovaries and womb, and chemotherapy. Recurrences treated with chemotherapy. Surgery to lungs and heart to prevent fluid build-up.


To watch or read an interview clip, click on the heading that interests you. Either a video,audio recording or text will open, depending on the clip
To close transcript boxes, click here
To print the interview’s text, click here
Female
Describes the second treatment she had for pleural effusions, and fluid round the heart, which caused a heart arrest.

 



What had happened was that the fluid had built up again very suddenly. It was not only collapsing the lung, which was causing the breathlessness again, but the fluid had also built up around the heart. I think it must have been the pressure of all that on the diaphragm that was stopping me from eating.  

Anyway they rushed me across to another hospital to operate on the left lung and created also a pericardial window. Apparently around the heart there is a sac which had also filled with the fluid. The operation was pretty dramatic because when the surgeon cut into the sac, apparently it went off like a geyser and the heart arrested. Fortunately I've a strong heart so they got it going again quickly. The surgeon told me afterwards, which was a bit frightening, “If I hadn't operated on you last night, you would have been dead in twenty-four hours”.
Support our work

healthtalkonline.org - Teaching and Learning

Mail to a friend

Send